How it Should've Happened
by SallySorrell
Summary: Alternate episodes and endings. Season seven.
1. Seven to Eight PM

How it should've happened

President Taylor watched, horrified, as her daughter was seated in front of the camera.

"Open the door or she dies." General Juma announced, holding a knife close to Olivia's throat.

"Open the door!" the President screamed to Jack, the only one remaining with her in the safe house.

"Madam President, with all due respect... no." he said, sternly.

"That's my daughter! My _daughter_, Jack! He's going to kill my daughter!"

"Madam President, if you open this door, he'll kill both of us _and _your daughter, and the hostages. As long as we remain in here, we can hope that a rescue operation is underway."

"I don't care Jack!" she was in hysterics by now, "I've already lost my son, and almost my husband, and now my daughter! Do you know what that feels like?!?"  
"Madam President, I don't know if you've heard, but my wife was murdered, years ago by one of my trusted co-workers. And not many people know that she was pregnant when she died. So _yes_," he said, beginning to get agitated, "I _do _know how that feels."

She was silent, obviously beaten. A tear rolled its way down her cheek. Not for her daughter, but for Jack. She had trusted him, betrayed him, arrested him, pardoned him, comforted him and tormented him, all in one day. And her pain couldn't even come close to his. How much had he suffered in his lifetime, all for the good of the country? Had he ever put his own needs first? Now President Allison Taylor, standing silent in the corner of the safe-room, felt selfish.

She shut off the screen that showed her daughter, sitting and crying beside General Juma and his regime.

"I'm sorry Jack, I'm sorry." She hugged him, in spite of her self, "What do we do from here?"

"We aren't leaving this room. I know Aaron Pierce; he's one of the few people I'd trust unconditionally. He'll get help."

7:54:51

7:54:52

7:54:53

7:54:54

Aaron hadn't run so far in a long time. Not with a bullet wound anyway.

He had hidden himself while Olivia flashed the Morse code out the window. He didn't know if she was captured or not. All he knew was that they needed a back up plan.  
And him running _was_ the back up plan.

He had maneuvered through the front courtyard of The White House, trying to remain undetected by Juma's security.

He could see the FBI vans in the parking lot. He was within shouting distance, so he shouted. Blowing his cover, yes, but also, giving hope to The President.

"Code Green!" he shouted, over and over again.

Several teams from the vans, as well as other members of Secret Service came to meet him in the grass.

"The President is in the safe house." He told them, "We need a rescue operation, now."

"Are you wounded, agent...?" one of the FBI team members asked.

"Pierce, and yes, but not fatally. I'll go in with the recovery team. I can get medical later."

"Fine." The agent turned to the vans behind him, "Let's get all additional teams over here now, rescue operation, code green!"

The agent handed Aaron an extra gun from his belt, and a team of about fifty people moved swiftly back to the White House.

7:59:57

7:59:58

7:59:59

8:00:00


	2. Ten to Eleven PM

**Spoilers: Anyone who's behind on season seven (compared to the US) this one references a lot of major plot points, avoid it until you're caught up. Thanks and enjoy!**

10 PM to 11 PM

"Jack, don't do it."

"Tony, I promised this man I'd keep him alive."

"You didn't give him your word, now did you?"

Jack shook his head, but didn't look back at Tony. His attention was focused on the trigger of the gun he carried.

"Jack, come on. It's already ten against two."

"Nine against two." Jack corrected, aiming.

"Really, do you need to draw attention to us? We've already got a hell of an objective. We've got to take out a small army, secure a helicopter, forklift and a big-rig, and bring a bio-weapon back to the FBI, who, as of now, has us listed as wanted fugitives. One person is worth all that, Jack? You didn't even put that effort into your _wife_."

Tony didn't mean it as any sort of insult, and Jack didn't take it as one. He recognized it as a fact, and turned to face Tony again, lowering his weapon.

"Alright, now, we're getting out of here, and back to the loading zone." Tony informed him, leading the way.

As they walked, they heard a single bullet ring behind them, and a thump as the guard's body collapsed onto the cement.

10:42:45

10:42:46

10:42:47

10:42:48

"Ms. Walker, Larry Moss is on the line for you."

Renee, still in FBI's holding room, took the phone from the woman who had entered. She nodded, slightly, and obviously annoyed.

"Renee, I need to know what you sent to _Jack Bauer_." Larry spat out the name, as if it was poison.

"A name, Larry. And I have no reason to tell you."

"Firing you isn't enough? For God's sake, Renee, I want to know what you sent him, it could prove he's innocent."

"What do you think he did?"

"As of now; murdered a sitting US senator."

"My God, Larry, do you really believe that, after what he's done for us today?"

She hung up and tossed the phone to the table in the center of the room, the force slid it to the floor

She paced, hoping Jack was fine (_alive_, rather), and that he hadn't been captured or arrested just yet.

Not until she found a way out of the holding cell.

10:46:08

10:46:09

10:46:10

10:46:11

Tony and Jack took cover behind one of the many bins in the loading zone.

After a rather dramatic firefight, only two terrorists of the original ten remained.

"I'm empty Jack," Tony panted, leaning against the metal wall of the container in front of them.

"Get my knife if you need it."

While Jack kept shooting, Tony reached around him, and into his jacket pocket. He removed Jack's knife and held it tightly in both of his sweating hands.

Then Tony took cover, feeling useless. But Jack could take out two people on his own. That wasn't the issue.

The issue was that they were supposed to be distracting the other men.

"Get to the forklift." Jack shouted, "Go now, I'll cover you."

Tony, hunched over, dashed across the area to the forklift, which was lifting the bio-weapon from its storage compartment, while Jack continued shooting at the other men, who cowered behind a truck.

Tony stumbled up the ladder, with Jack's knife between his teeth.

The body of the vehicle's operator was near dead, but still attempting to operate the forklift. Tony jabbed the knife into the man's chest, then removed it before throwing the body out the side door.

He took to steering the massive vehicle toward the storage unit. As he lifted the container, he heard two final shots, and footsteps. Jack's, he hoped.

"Tony!?!" a raspy voice shouted.

Yes, Jack's.

"I'm here, Jack."

That was all the information they needed from one another. Immediately, Tony knew that Jack was fine, and that the opposing terrorists were dead or handcuffed, and Jack knew that Tony had control of the bio-weapon.

Jack climbed into the big-rig.

"Lower it." He instructed Tony.

He did so, carefully placing the container onto the flat bed of the truck.

"Hang on, I think there's a tracker on the weapon." Tony announced, swinging down from the forklift.

He swept his hands over the panel on the front of the container.

"Got it."

Tony removed a small, circular device from the control panel. Otherwise, it would've tracked the vehicle and its mileage, and auto-stalled it once it reached a preset limit.

Tony then climbed into the passenger seat, and Jack hit the gas.

"Call the FBI." Jack told him, "It should be the last number in the history."

The cell phone sat in the cup holder of the truck. Tony retrieved it, and did as Jack asked.

10:55:33

10:55:34

10:55:35

10:55:36

Renee quivered, stunned.

She had just sat down at the desk, in a vain attempt to calm herself.

Her cell phone was ringing.

Her first thought was not to answer it, because she figured it would be just Larry complaining. Then, she thought of how careless the woman had been to leave it in the room.

She scooted herself out of the plain chair and reached around the floor to find the cell phone.

Flipping it open, Renee took a deep breath and answered.

"Hello?"

"Who's this?" came Tony Almeida's voice through the receiver. Renee didn't recognize him at first.

"Renee Walker..." she longed to add "FBI" to the end of her sentence, but, legally, she no longer worked there.

No voice answered her. Instead, she heard a muffled scratching sound.

Then a different voice, Jack Bauer's, addressed her.

"Renee?"

"What Jack?"

"Wherever Larry is, I need you to let him know we have control of a biological weapon. Tell him to send teams to the military base at..."

"Jack, I'm still in holding, and Larry fired me."

"Damn it, Renee." Jack said, adding her name to the phrase for the first time, "We need this thing secured before a hundred more terrorists find out it's missing!"

"I'm on it."

She hung up, and tossed the phone back to its post on the tile.

Renee stayed sitting in the corner, and glared right into the surveillance camera.  
Oh yes, she was on the case.

Larry didn't even need to know...

10:59:57

10:59:58

10:59:59

11:00:00

* * *

**Author's Note: Yah, I end up writing these if an episode (or an ending) upsets me, or doesn't seem to complete anything. I'm actually pretty happy with this one, let me know what ya think!**


	3. Twelve AM to One AM

12:40:08

Olivia Taylor stood up, facing the hotel room window.

Ken wasn't facing her, he was smirking to himself.

She buttoned her shirt and then turned to look at him, trying to look innocent.

"Now, you won't send out that story, will you Ken?"

He turned his head, still smirking.

"I have to."

Olivia saw no way out of this. The gears revved in her mind.

Agent Aaron Pierce was right outside the door, perfect…

Olivia took a final glance at Ken, and unbuttoned her shirt quite rapidly.

"No, you don't." she mocked. Then, suddenly, she opened her mouth wide and screamed.

She could hear footsteps on the hotel's wooden hallway, then a pounding at the door.

She screamed again, adding an exaggerated "Aaron!" this time.

The door swung immediately open and Aaron entered the room, gun drawn.

12:43:32

12:43:33

12:43:34

12:43:35

"Okay Tony, we need you to get to the canisters, we'll have Jack confirm the ID." Renee instructed Agent Almeida.

Larry couldn't have been thinking straight earlier; he'd put Renee and Jack in charge of the entire raid. One of them had been legally fired earlier, and the other was technically a wanted criminal.

"Copy that, FBI. Moving to the first floor now."

"We're with you." Jack assured him. He looked over the screens and monitors on the FBI's Main Floor.

Tony had been left alone at the Starkwood base, and was currently running a covert operation, with the help of the FBI. Larry and the rest of the team were forced to leave by Jonas Hodges himself.

"I'm on the first floor, but I need security clearance."

"Working on it." Janice told him.

"I have men coming up behind me, presumably armed…" Tony whispered.

"I've got another five minutes on the clearance." Was Janice's reply.

"Take them out, Tony." Jack instructed, "We need you to get in undetected, no chances."

"Got it."

Tony hid himself behind a thick cement pillar that rested beside the door. He sensed three or four men approaching his location.

He fitted a silencer into his gun, then turned and fired at each of them.

12:50:11

12:50:12

12:50:13

12:50:14

Aaron slapped a set of handcuffs around Ken's arms. He pulled him out of the hotel room, Olivia following, shoulders hunched.

"You should call the President." Aaron said to Olivia as they got into the elevator.

Olivia barely nodded as Aaron removed his cell phone from his jacket pocket. He placed it in her shaking hands, and she dialed.

"Livvy?" was the answer, "Where are you? The Joint Chiefs are assembled and I need my Chief of Staff h…"

"Mom… I-I had to take care of the press…"

Aaron held out his hand for the phone. Olivia passed it to him.

"Madam President, this is Agent Aaron Pierce. I have a news reporter in custody; he won't give his name…"

"Why are you arresting him, Aaron?"

12:52:55

12:52:56

12:52:57

12:52:58

"Alright, I'm below the first floor now." Tony informed the base.

"Below?" Renee asked, a bit worried, "There aren't any below-ground levels listed or picked up on the maps…"

"They're here."

"Search for the canisters and get back to us."

"Copy that."

The line was silent for maybe two minutes, then Tony returned.

"I have a possible ID on the canisters. Sending images now."

A thread of data opened itself on the display screens. Within moments, an image assembled, pixel by pixel on the main screen.

"That's them." Jack said upon seeing the picture.

"Wait…" was the next thing Tony said, "There are three loaded missiles just to my left. Another is being loaded, and it looks like with a canister."

"Damn it Tony." Jack said, just below a shout, "They know we're coming..."

"What's the timeframe on the air-strike?"

"The President's phone-line is busy," said Janice, "Last I heard was about eight minutes."

"Get out of there Tony, they may be launching those now, the air-strike is our last chance."

"No, it isn't." Tony said, thinking for a moment, "I'm getting Hodges out of here. Alive."

12:59:57

12:59:58

12:59:59

1:00:00


End file.
